Learning as I age

And stay in there fighting …..

While on my self- declared exile from WordPress last month, I did some reading, during the time in between my studying. And I read a lot of motivational stuff. I noted some of them to share. Here is one of the passages I found motivational and it was written by Theodore Roosevelt.

Theodore Roosevelt was born in Manhattan in 1858. As he was a sickly boy, he tried to overcome his sickliness by strengthening his body and mind. He was well read and brought out his first book in 1882.( at age 24). He was a lover of nature and a life long conservationist. He entered politics and was a member of the Republican party But he soon moved out into the wilds of Dakota to run a ranch there, after the death of his mother and his wife. He tried unsuccessfully to run as Mayor of New York in 1886 and went on to participate in the War in Cuba. There he showed his mettle as a solider and a leader of great fortitude. When he returned to the States after the war, he was a National hero and was nominated as the running mate of the Presidential candidate McKinley. Mckinley won and with this win, Roosevelt became his vice president. ( This was around the turn of the 20th century). When President McKinley was assassinated, he became the President of the United states at 42 years of age. Under his presidency, the USA saw the establishment of many national parks, botanical gardens, parks and started paying a lot of attention to conservation of nature. That was one of his legacies. Later he continued on as the President of the United states when he was elected for the full term.

i am impressed with his life because of his steadfast interest in nature and preservation of natural resources.

The following excerpt is from one of his writings :

” It is not the critic who counts: not the man who points out how the strong man stumbled, or where the doer of deeds could have done better. The credit belongs to the man who is actually in the arena; whose face is marred by dust and sweat and blood; who strives valiantly;who errs and comes short again and again; who knows the great enthusiasms, the great devotions, and spends himself in a worthy cause; who at the best knows in the end the triumph of high achievement; and who at the worst, if he fails, at least fails while daring greatly; so that his place shall never be with those cold and timid souls who know neither victory nor defeat.”

4 thoughts on “And stay in there fighting …..”

Melinda, I love reading about great people and seeing what I can imbibe and learn from their lives. In actuality they were ordinary people like me but by practicing certain lifestyles or beliefs or faiths, they achieved extra ordinary things. That really inspires me. I loved to read about how much he did to establish national parks in the US.